


i don't know you, but i would love to meet you

by panlesters



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Drinking, First Meetings, M/M, but not idk why, but with dan tm, car insurance story, uni au ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:02:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25228780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panlesters/pseuds/panlesters
Summary: It didn't work out with the guy at the bar, but Phil struggles to mourn his loss when the guy across the table won't stop staring at him.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 28
Kudos: 67





	i don't know you, but i would love to meet you

**Author's Note:**

> i couldnt help myself w this one tbh,, listen the title and summary are shit i rly struggled to describe it but i hope it's actually a good fic lol   
> enjoy!   
> title from we should be friends by josh ramsay

Phil’s not really sure how he ended up in this strange, makeshift disco that appeared inside their local Chinese restaurant. But he must be in luck, hearing from a bar tender that it’s LGBT+ night tonight. He’s been out to this little circle of friends for a while now, but allowing himself to be seen in public as a gay man has never been on the cards for him. But now he’s here, on a night dedicated to him and others like him, and he can finally just feel normal. Live the life that everyone else gets to live for once.

He leaves his friends on the dancefloor; it’s not really his thing, and he knows he’s not going to attract any cute guys with his horrific dance moves. If he knows anything from watching American TV, it’s that you have to stand at the bar if you want to pick up a guy. So here he is, nursing a fruity cocktail, hoping that he looks like the kind of person another guy might want to talk to.

He doesn’t have to wait long. When he looks up from his drink, there’s a cute guy making his way towards him, making eye contact and introducing himself with a hello. And they get talking, just about this and that. He’s easy enough to talk to, Phil finds, and he thinks that this might be it. He laughs a little too enthusiastically at the other man’s jokes, but he doesn’t seem to be putting the guy off with it. He buys the guy a drink and soon Phil feels like he’s ready to make some kind of a move.

“So,” he says, when there’s a moment of silence between them. “Out of everyone here, what made you want to talk to me?”

He’s not sure what he was expecting, but the bark of laughter definitely wasn’t it. It makes him feel awkward on its own, but when it carries on, he feels his stomach drop further through the floor. Every possible scenario is running through his head. He’s just trying to prank as many gay people as he can. Someone’s put something on his back. He’s only in it for the free drink. It feels like an age before the guy stops laughing and looks him in the eye, with only a flash of sympathy.

“Sorry mate,” he says, “my girlfriend just wanted to know if you’re the guy from the car insurance ad.”

Phil stands in shocked silence for a moment. Compared with what he was expecting, it really isn’t that bad. But he still has a girlfriend. He didn’t come and talk to Phil because he was the cool, mysterious guy stood at the bar who he decided he just had to know. With a sigh, Phil forces a smile and agrees to take a photo with the guy and his girlfriend. He stays at their table a little while and chats with them. They’re nice people, and he finds himself slotting into their group fairly easily. He feels eyes on him and every now and then flicks his gaze over to the guy sat at the other end of the table, who hasn’t spoken to him at all, but who also hasn’t taken his eyes off of him since he came and sat down. It takes everything Phil has not to catch his eyes and stare back, because the guy is cute. Really cute. But Phil has lost all optimism. He’s already been let down once tonight, and he’s not going to make a fool of himself a second time. The guy is probably just someone else shocked at the idea of seeing the car insurance guy in real life.

It’s not too long before one of the guys at the table suggests moving on to a club and a hearty cheer rises from the lads around the table. They rowdily get up and Phil grins and holds a hand up to wave. He’s finishing his drink and making his way back to his friends on the dancefloor when he feels a hand on his arm. He looks around to see the guy from before, the one who was staring at him. He’s not sure what to say, so he doesn’t say anything, his mouth just hanging open in a tipsy haze.

“Hey, it’s Phil, right?” Phil swallows.

“Yeah,” he says, his mouth dry. “Did you, uh. Want a photo too?”

The guy lets out a surprised chuckle.

“Oh, God no,” he says, shaking his head as he laughs. “I was actually gonna ask if you wanted a drink.”

“Uh, well.” Phil feels himself frowning as he tries to figure out where this is headed. He’s crossed meeting a potential boyfriend off his list after the night’s previous disaster, so he’s really not sure what to make of this. “I’ve already had one,” is what his tipsy brain comes up with in the end. A useless answer, and it has him inwardly cringing immediately, but the laugh from the other guy makes it worth it. Sure, he’s probably straight and in a relationship, but Phil can still appreciate the facts.

“I’d like to buy you another,” he says, still giggling a little. “If you want.” The last part is spoken so softly Phil almost misses it amongst the noise of the room around them, but it takes him from appreciating the facts to melting his heart into a puddle that dribbles out the bottom of his trouser leg. He’d like to pull himself together and look at this realistically, but he’s had a little too much to drink to hold on to rationality, and allows himself to fall a little.

“Okay,” Phil says eventually. The guy smiles brightly and they make their way back over to the bar. “So you know my name,” he says, trying his best to break the ice. “But I don’t know yours.”

“Oh!” he says. “I’m Dan.”

“Dan,” Phil echoes with a grin. He lets Dan order their drinks before he carries on. He doesn’t make a comment when Dan orders him the same fruity cocktail he’d had earlier in the night, storing it away for later. “Are you a student?”

“Yeah,” Dan says. “Not here. I’m visiting my friend. The one who talked to you earlier.”

“Ah.” Phil says with a nod. “Where are you usually?”

“Manchester.”

Not too far away, Phil’s mind tells him helpfully.

“What are you studying?”

“Law,” Dan says, his nose crinkling in disgust. Phil huffs a laugh. “What about you?”

“Oh, I study here,” Phil says with an awkward nod. “English language and linguistics.”

“That’s a bit fancy,” Dan says with an eyebrow raise.

“It’s just the long title,” Phil shrugs. “Nothing compared to law, anyway.”

“It’s not what it’s cracked up to be, trust me,” Dan laughs. They chat away for a little while until their drinks are brought to them and they pause to take little sips.

“Can I ask you something?” Phil says.

“Sure.”

“If you’re visiting that friend, why didn’t you leave with them?”

Dan’s eyes drop down into his drink, and in the darkness of the room Phil thinks he sees a hint of blush on those cheeks.

“Just a feeling that I’d have a better night if I hung around here instead,” he says, after a few moments of pause. Phil raises an eyebrow and Dan grins shyly. “Look, I already chickened out of talking to you once, I wasn’t gonna do it again.”

This time, it’s Phil’s turn to blush. His mouth opens and closes again like a fish.

“What d’you mean?” he asks tentatively. He’s still trying his best not to get his hopes up, but they’re definitely rising against his will.

“I told Jake you looked like the car insurance guy,” Dan says quickly, as if he’s about to stop himself. “I didn’t think you actually were, but I thought if he went and talked to you I might have a shot afterwards.”

“You wanted to talk to _me_?” Phil asks, his voice rising in surprise. “Why?”

Dan laughs again and shakes his head as he looks up at Phil.

“Mate, you’re _cute_ ,” he says. The rosy cheeks have returned but he’s not breaking eye contact now. “I couldn’t leave without actually talking to you.”

Phil can’t believe what he’s hearing. The concept of a guy finding him cute and wanting to talk to him is a concept he had shoved aside only an hour or so ago, and now here Dan is, telling him he was too scared to say hi before.

He must be staring at Dan for too long, because his face begins to fall and a hand comes up to cover his mouth.

“Oh God,” Dan says after a moment, “Oh fuck, you’re not- I am so sorry, oh my God, I thought you were-”

“I am!” Phil says quickly. “I am gay!”

“Oh, thank _fuck_ ,” Dan says with a loud bark of laughter. “I nearly ejected myself out the restaurant then,” he says between laughs, and Phil finds himself laughing along. Genuine laughs, because Dan is genuinely funny. Phil doesn’t feel like he has to force anything. Maybe it’s the knowledge of Dan’s intentions. Or maybe it’s just that they’ve clicked the way Phil didn’t with the other guy. Either way, from there they settle into an easy conversation as the rest of the room dances around them. Phil buys the next round of drinks and eventually they decide that they’re at their limit and walk out together.

The fresh air hits them hard, and Phil almost immediately feels like he’s sobering up.

“Fuck,” Dan says with a laugh. “I have literally no idea where my guys went.”

Phil frowns over at him as he pulls out his phone. He frowns down at it for a second before huffing and shoving it back in his pocket.

“Well I’m screwed. Phone’s dead and I don’t even really know where he lives.”

“Come back to mine,” Phil says, before he’s even had a chance to really think about it. Dan immediately narrows his eyes at him, and he raises his hands in surrender. “No funny business, I promise. Just a sofa for the night and a charger for your phone. And I’ll help you find your mates in the morning.”

Dan looks at him a little differently then, surprised but endeared at the same time.

“Alright,” he says, after a moment of consideration. “But you better keep your word about the funny business.”

Phil huffs a laugh.

“Of course,” he says, “I’ll take you out to dinner first, don’t worry.”

He doesn’t miss the look of quiet delight that Dan gives him, or the butterflies that begin to stir in his stomach.

When Dan checks his phone the next morning, he has a few worried texts and phone calls from Jake, and texts back that he went home with car insurance guy and slept on his sofa. He gives Phil Jake’s address and they walk across town together, stopping at a Starbucks to get breakfast. When they make it to the right place, Dan gives Phil a big grin.

“Thanks for last night, Phil,” he says sincerely, reaching out a fist to bump Phil gently on the arm. “It’s a good job I plucked up the courage to talk to you, huh?”

“Definitely,” Phil agrees.

“Well,” Dan says, grinning and giving Phil a mock salute. “See you round, maybe.”

“Wait!” Phil says suddenly, as Dan turns away. He spins around with a grin and a raised eyebrow. “Can I have your number?”

They stand in the street swapping numbers, both grinning down at the other’s phones shamelessly. Phil can’t quite believe this is happening, that this cute as fuck guy wanted to talk to _him_ in a club in the middle of the night, that he came home and spent the night on his sofa and now wants his number too. He hands Dan’s phone back in exchange for his own.

“Call me?” Phil asks shyly, confidence melting away again. Dan gives him a radiant smile and he can feel his cheeks heating up under the gaze.

“Absolutely.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! comments are appreciated, come scream at me on tumblr @ panlesters


End file.
